"Mahāsammata.—A king who lived in the beginning of this
present age. The Pali Chronicles mention him as the original
ancestor of the Sakyan family, to which the Buddha belonged, and
gives a list of the dynasties from his day to the time of the
Buddha, to prove that the line was "unbroken." Mahāsammata belonged
to the Solar Race and is identified with the Bodhisatta, who was
born among men after sojourn in the Brahma-worlds. He was called
Mahasammata, because, on the arising of wickedness in the world, he
was chosen by the people to show indignation against and disapproval
of those worthy of blame. In return for his services, he was given a
portion of their harvest. It is said that in the dynasty of
Mahāsammata the idea of meting out punishments, such as torture,
fining, expulsion, was unknown. These were invented later with the
advance of civilisation! The Vimānavatthu Commentary explains that
Mahāsammata is the name given in the sacred books (sāsane) for Manu.
Some, at least, of the Ceylon kings traced their descent from
Mahasammata."

"Kusāvatī.—A city in the kingdom of the Mallas. In
the present age it was called Kusinārā. Once it was the royal
city of Mahā-Sudassana and was twelve leagues in length and
twelve in breadth, prosperous and full of people, like
Âlakamandā. It was then at the head of eighty-four towns. The
Mahā-Sudassana Sutta contains a long description of the city. It
was the capital of several kings of the Mahāsammata dynasty,
including Okkāka, father of Kusa.

In the time of the Buddha Metteya, Kusāvatī will be known as
Ketumatī."

Fa-Hian places Kusināgara at 12 yojanas, or 84 miles, to the
eastward of the Charcoal Stupa, a distance which is quite
impossible when compared with its other recorded distances from
Vaisāli and Banaras. Unfortunately, Hwen Thsang, contrary to his
usual custom, has omitted to note the distance, and simply
states that he travelled in a north-east direction for a long
time through a vast forest, full of wild bulls and wild
elephants, and infested with brigands. A portion of this forest
still exists to the north and east of Sahankat, and wild
elephants still abound in the Tarai forests to the north of
Gorakhpur. Wilson first proposed Kasia as the site of Kusinagara,
and the suggestion has since been generally adopted. The village
is situated exactly 35 miles to the east of Gorakhpur, at the
crossing of two great thoroughfares. It is 28 miles to the
north-east of Sahankat in a direct line measured on the map, or
about 35 miles by road. The distance is therefore only 5 yojanas,
instead of 12, as noted by Fa-Hian. It cannot be placed further
to the north-east without increasing its distance from Banaras,
and lessening its distance from Vaisali. Now the former is
limited by Hwen Thsang to 700 li, or 117 miles, and the latter
is fixed by Fa-Hian himself at 25 yojanas, or 175 miles; and as
both estimates agree very closely with the actual position of
Kasia, I am. satisfied that Fa-Hian's 12 yojanas must be a
mistake. Anrudhwa, near Kasia, is exactly 111 miles to the
north-northeast of Banaras, measured in a direct line on the map,
and cannot, therefore, be less than 120 miles by road. The
distance between Kasia and Vaisāli, by the route which I marched,
is just 140 miles; but this was along the new straight lines
which have been laid out by the British authorities. By the old
winding native tracks the distance would have been much greater,
or certainly not less than 160 miles.

At the time of Hwen Thsang's visit the walls of Kusinagara were
in ruins, and the place was almost deserted; but the brick
foundations of the old capital occupied a circuit of about 12 li,
or 2 miles. The existing ruins between Anrudhwa and Kasia are
scattered over a much larger space; but some of these were
certainly outside the city, and it is now quite impossible to
ascertain its exact limits. It most probably occupied the site
of the mound of ruins to the north-east of the village of
Anrudhwa. The spot where Buddha obtained Nirvāna would then
correspond with the site of the stupa and ruins now called
Mātha~kuär-ka-kot, or the "fort of the Dead Prince," and the
spot where his body was burned would correspond with the site of
the great stupa now called Devisthān. The former lies to the
north-west of Anrudhwa, and to the west of the old channel of
the Chota Gandak, or Hiranyavati river, which is still
occasionally filled after heavy rain. The latter lies to the
north-east of Anrudhwa, and to the east of the old channel of
the Hirana, or Chota Gandak.

The only name now associated with the ruins near Kasia is that
of Māthā Kuär, or the "Dead Prince." Mr. Liston gives the name
as Māta, but a Brahman of the neighbouring village of Bishanpur,
who wrote the name for me, spelt it as I have given it, Māthā.
As this spelling points to the derivation of the word from Matha,
or Mātha, "to kill," I have translated Māthā Kuär as the "Dead
Prince," which I refer to Buddha himself after his death, or, in
the language of the Buddhists, after his obtainment of Nirvāna.
Hwen Thsang, when speaking of Sākya's assumption of the
mendicant's dress, calls him Kumāra Rāja, or the "Royal Prince;"
but although this title was never, I believe, applied to him by
the learned after his assumption of Buddhahood, it does not seem
at all improbable that it may have remained in common use
amongst the people. We know from Hwen Thsang that on the spot
where Buddha died there was a brick vihār, or temple monastery,
in which was enshrined a recumbent statue of Buddha on his
death-bed, with his head towards the north. Now this statue
would naturally have been the principal object of veneration at
Kusinagara, and although amongst the learned it might have been
called the "statue of the Nirvāna," yet I can readily believe
that its more popular name amongst all classes would have been
the "statue of the Dead Prince." I am therefore of opinion that
the name of Māthā Kuär, which still clings to the ruins of Kasia,
has a direct reference to the death of Buddha, which, according
to his followers, took place at Kusinagara, on the full moon of
the Vaisākh, 543 B.C. The continuance of this name down to the
present day is a strong argument in favour of the identification
of Kasia as the "death-place" of Buddha."

"Mithilā.—The capital of the Videha country. The city was
very ancient, and, according to the Mahāgovinda Sutta, was founded
by Mahāgovinda, steward of King Renu. It was also the capita] of
Makhādeva and eighty-four thousand of his descendants, and of
various other kings mentioned in the Jātakas—e.g., Angati (vi. 220),
Aritthajanaka (vi. 30), Nimi (iii. 378), Videha (ii. 39). Vedeha (vi.
330), Mahājanaka (vi. 30 f.), Sādhīna (iv. 355), and Suruci (ii.
333). The size of the city is frequently given as seven leagues in
circumference, and the Mahājanaka Jātaka contains a description of
it. There was a road leading from Campā to Mithila, a distance of
sixty leagues.

According to the Mahāummagga Jātaka there were four market towns at
the four gates of Mithilā, each being known by the name of
Yavamajjhaka. The Buddha is mentioned as having stayed in Mithilā
and having preached there the Makhādeva Sutta and the Brahmāyu
Sntta. It was also in Mithila that the Therī Vasetthī first met the
Buddha and entered the Order, after having heard him preach. After
the Buddha's death, the Videhas of Mithilā claimed a part of his
relics and obtained them. In the time of Konāgamana Buddha Mithilā
was the capital of King Pabbata, and the Buddha preached there on
his visit to the city. Padumuttara Buddha preached his first sermon
to his cousins, Devala and Sujāta, in the park of Mithilā, and later
to King Ânanda and his retinue in the same spot.

Mithilā is generally identified with Janakapura, a small town within
the Nepal border, north of which the Mazaffarpur and Darbhanga
districts meet.

In the Indian Epics Mithilā is chiefly famous as the residence of
King Janaka."

"Janakpur, 75,000 inhabitants, is a
city in the Dhanusha District, southern Terai, Nepal, approximately
200 km south-east of Kathmandu, 22 km from the Indian border.

The city is centre of the ancient Maithili culture with its own language and
script. Janakpur also is the birthplace of Sita Devi,
a Hindu goddess
(also called Janaki), the heroin of the Ramayana epos and it is the site of her
wedding with Rama, a Hindu god. King Janak is supposed to have found baby Sita
in a furrow of a field; he took the child home and raised it. When she was a
young lady the king announced that she should be wed by whoever is able to
string the devine bow of Shiva. That was no other than Rama, a prince from Ayodhya. Thus,
Janakpur is an important pilgrimage site for Hindus.

The centre of Janakpur is
dominated by the impressive
Janaki Mandir to the north and west of the bazaar. This temple was built in
1911 and is in many aspects reminiscent of islamic architecture. Another
landmark of Janakpur are the numerous sacred ponds for ritual baths (sagar) all
over the city. The 2 most important ones are close to the centre: Dhanush Sagar
and Ganga Sagar.

The
Maithili language is still widely spoken in the area as well as in the
neighbouring Indian state of Bihar. Maithili
women are renown for their traditional art, most of all their paintings on
pottery, walls and court yards. Typically, Maithili dwellings are made of clay
and straw with an inner court yard."

"Makhādeva Jātaka (No. 9).—The Bodhisatta was once born
as Makhādeva, king of Mithilā in Videha. For successive periods of
eighty-four thousand years each he had respectively amused himself
as prince, ruled as viceroy, and reigned as king. He one day asked
his barber to tell him as soon as he had any gray hairs. When, many
years later, the barber found a gray hair, he pulled it out and laid
it on the king's palm as he had been requested. The king had
eighty-four thousand years yet to live, but he granted the barber a
village yielding one hundred thousand, and, on that very day, gave
over the kingdom to his son and renounced the world as though he had
seen the King of Death. For eighty-four thousand years he lived as a
recluse in the Makhādeva-ambavana and was reborn in the Brahma-world.
Later, he became once more king of Mithilā, under the name of Nimi,
and in that life, too, he became a recluse.

The barber is identified with Ânanda and the son with Rāhula. The
story was related to some monks who were talking one day about the
Buddha's Renunciation.

Makhādeva Sutta (M. ii. 74 ff.).—The Buddha visits the
Makhādeva-ambavana, and, at a certain spot, smiles. In reply to
Ânanda's question, he tells him the story of Makhādeva, of how he
renounced the world when gray hairs appeared on his head and became
a recluse, enjoining on his eldest son to do likewise when the time
came. Makhādeva developed the four Brahmavihāra and was reborn in
the Brahma-world. Eighty-four thousand of his descendants, in
unbroken succession, followed the tradition set by him; the last of
the kings to do this was Nimi, and his virtue having been remarked
by the gods of Tāvatimsa, Sakka invited him there. Nimi accepted the
invitation, but later returned to earth to rule righteously and to
observe the four fast days in each month. Nimi's son was
Kalārajanaka, who broke the high tradition and proved the last of
the line.

Makhādeva's tradition led only to the Brahma-world, but the
teachings of the Buddha lead to Enlightenment and Nibbāna.

"Kalārajanaka.—King of Mithilā. He was the son of Nimi
and belonged to the Makhādeva dynasty. Whereas other kings of his
race left the household at the approach of old age, he broke the
tradition by not doing so. He was the last king of this dynasty. His
son was called Samankara. Kalārajanaka was so called because he had
long, projecting teeth."

A king, ancestor of the Sākyas and the Kolians.
In the Ambattha Sutta it is stated that Okkāka, being fond of his
queen and wishing to transfer the kingdom to her son, banished from
the kingdom the elder princes by another wife. These princes were
named Okkāmukha, Karakanda, Hatthinika, and Sīnipura. They lived on
the slopes of the Himalaya and, consorting with their sisters and
their descendants, formed the Sākyan race. The legend, thus briefly
given, is enlarged on with great detail in the Commentaries.
According to Buddhaghosa, there are three dynasties with a king
named Okkāka at the head of each, all of them lineal descendants of
the primeval king, Mahāsammata, and in the line of succession of
Makhādeva.

The Okkāka of the third dynasty had five queens—Bhattā, Cittā, Jantū,
Jālinī and Visākhā — each with five hundred female attendants. The
eldest queen had four sons —mentioned above — and five daughters —
Piyā, Suppiyā, Ânandā, Vijitā and Vijitasenā.

When Bhattā died, after the birth of these nine children, the king
married another young and beautiful princess and made her the chief
queen. Her son was Jantu, and being pleased with him, the king
promised her a boon. She claimed the kingdom for her son, and this
was the reason for the exile of the elder children. The Mahāvamsa
mentions among Okkāka's descendants, Nipuna, Candimā, Candamukha,
Sivisanjaya, Vessantara, Jāli, Sīhavāhana and Sīhassara. The last
named had eighty-four thousand descendants, the last of whom was
Jayasena. His son Sīhahanu was the grandfather of the Buddha. The
Dīpavamsa list resembles this very closely.

Okkāka had a slave-girl called Disā, who gave birth to a black baby
named, accordingly, Kanha. He was the ancestor of the Kanhāyanas, of
which race the Ambattha-clan was an offshoot. Later, Kanha became a
mighty sage and, by his magic power, won in marriage Maddarūpī,
another daughter of Okkāka.

According to the Brāhmanadhammika Sutta, it was during the time of
Okkāka that the brahmins started their practice of slaughtering
animals for sacrifice. Till then there had been only three diseases
in the world — desire, hunger and old age ; but from this time
onwards the enraged devas afflicted humans with various kinds of
suffering.

It is said that the name Okkāka was given to the king because when
he spoke light issued from his mouth like a torch.

Although the Sanskritised form of the Pali name is Iksavāku, it is
unlikely that Okkāka is identical with the famous Iksavāku of the
Purānas, the immediate son of Manu, son of the Sun. The Pali is
evidently more primitive, as is shown by the form Okkāmukha, and the
name Iksavāku looks like a deliberate attempt at accommodation to
the Purānic account.

According to the Mahāvastu, Iksavāku was the king of the Kosalas and
his capital was Sāketa — i.e. Ayodhyā. See also s.v. Sākya.

is the first king and
founder of the Sun Dynasty in Vedic civilization in ancient India.
He was the son of Manu (the first man on earth), sired by the Sun
God, Surya [Sūrya]. Manu gained the knowledge of Dharma and humanity
from Vivasvant (Surya). Thus, the lineage of the Sun Dynasty began.

The word Ikshvaku means "bitter gourd". Some scholars have
pointed out that the legends of Ikshvaku and Sumati may have their
origin in the Southeast-Asian myth of the birth of humanity from a
bitter gourd.

In Hinduism

Ikshvaku is the first king to implement the Manusmriti,
or the religious rules of Hindu living composed through divine
inspiration and from the Vedas by his father. He is remembered in
Hindu mythology as a righteous and glorious king.

The House of Ikshvaku reigns over Kosala, an ancient kingdom in the
northeast river plains of India, in the modern state of Uttar
Pradesh, along the banks of the Sarayu. The capital is Ayodhya.

In
Vedic History

Hindu mythology calls Ikshvaku and his line the emperors of the
world. The world in Vedic terms, extended fairly to all of
Bharat, or all of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Ikshvaku was perhaps one of the earliest and most important
Indo-Aryan monarchs of India, and played a pivotal role in the
transformation of the ancient Vedic religion into modern Hinduism,
and its propagation throughout India.

House of Ikshvaku

Sri Rama, the seventh and most famous Avatara of
Vishnu, of the epic Ramayana is a descendant of the house of
Ikshvaku.

Great kings like Bhagiratha and Dasaratha were also kings in the
line before Rama. After Rama, the kingdom and the worldwide domains
were divided equally between his two sons, Luv, king of the northern
and western realms, and Kusa, who was made king of the southern and
eastern realms.

Comtemporary theories

Ikshvaku is speculated by some historians as
not have been an Indian king at all. He was perhaps, according to
them, an Indo-Aryan king of his peoples in Central Asia, whose
legend was carried by the Indo-Aryan settlers of India and
synthesized into their religion and mythical history. Manu is often
construed to have been akin to the biblical Noah, however, by myth
he is both "Adam" as first man and he is the "first king" who ruled
the earth. Unlike Adam, King Manu is "Satyavrata" or someone who
vows unto the truth, unlike Adam, Manu never falls from heaven but
leads his people to heaven."

is one of the most prominent dynasties in the history
of Hinduism. This clan is known to be the most long-lived and the
most prosperous.

This clan is more associated with Rama, the King of Ayodhya. All of
the Kings in this clan have started from the originiation of the
world and the first king of the clan is Ikshvaku. Therefore, this
dynasty is also known as the Iksvaku Dynasty.

The following is the
list and order of the monarchs that have originated from this
dynasty and most of them were the rulers of Ayodhya and therefore,
King of Kosala.

King Vivasvant - the Sun God, who commenced this clan.

King Manu - the King of all mankind and the first human
being.

King Ikshvaku - 1st prominent monarch of this dynasty.

King
Kukshi - the only son of King Iksvaku.

King Vikukshi - According to the Brahma Purana, Vikukshi was
sent to fetch meat for the sacrifice to be performed by his
father. While hunting game, the prince was overcome by hunger
and ate some of the meat destined for the sacrifice. This was an
act of sacrilege, therefore,
Vashistha ordered King Kukshi to banish him from the kingdom. He is also known
as "Sashada", one who has eaten the meat of a rabbit.

King Bana

King Anaranya

King Prithu

King Trishanku - His original name was Satyavrata. His son
was Dhundumara. Satyavrata committed three sins, and hence he
got the name Trishanku. First, while a prince, he misbehaved in
the kingdom and was temporarily exiled. Next, he killed the
milch cow of his perceptor Vasishta. His third sin was that he
used the unsanctified meat of his kill as food. He also had a
quench to ascend heaven in his mortal body. Since, Vashistha
denied him this right, since it is against nature to ascend
heaven as a mortal, Vishwamitra created a heaven for him, called
"Trishank's Heaven", which is located in mid-air.

King Dhundumara

King Yuvanashva - He is referred to as the "speediest
charioteer" (Rama 1.70.25)

King Mandhata - One of the most illustrious monarchs. He was
very powerful who was equally in power to the Lord of Lanka,
Ravana. He wanted to attain the Kingdom of Heaven, ruled by Lord
Indra, whoever, he was sent to fight Lavnasur, who eventually
defeated him through his Trishul granted by Lord Shiva.

King Sushandi - He had two sons, Dhruvasandhi and Prasenajit.

King Dhruvasandhi

King Bharata

King Asita - He was defeated by rival Kings from the clans
of Haihayas, Talajanghas and Shashabindhus in battle. He fled to
the Himalayas with his two wives. While there, he fell ill and
died. At the time of his death, both his wives were pregnant.
One of the wives, named Kalindi was given poison by the other,
with the intention of inducing abortion. However, when both went
to the hermitage of sage Chyavana, he blessed the poisoned wife,
saying, "A highly illustrious son shall be born to you. He shall
be born with the toxin in his body, but shall live a full life."
He then gave her asylum. Sagara, was born to her, with poison in
his body as foretold by the sage.

King Sagara - When he grew up, Sage Chyavana told him of how
his father had to flee from his enemies, three Kings from the
clans of Haihayas, Talajanghas, and Sashabindhus. Sagara, who by
then had become an accomplished warrior, amassed an army and
succeeded in defeating his father's enemies and regained his
kingdom. Due to his kindness, sea was given a vast place on
Earth from the netherworld. Therefore, the sea is also known as
Sagar, taken from the donater.

King Asmanjya

King Amshuman

King Dilip

King Bhagirath - The ancestors of King Bhageeratha had been
burnt to ashes by the great sage Kapila in the netherworld.
Since no one had performed their funeral rites, they could not
ascend to heaven. When Bhagirath came to know of this, he saught
the advise of learned men, as to the means by which his
ancestors could be freed from this state. Their advice was
unequivocal, "Only the Sacred river Ganga, that flows in the
heavens can wash away the sins of your ancestors. Unless you
bring her down to the earth to wet the ashes of your ancestors,
they will be eternally cursed". Accordingly Bhagirath started to
perform a terrible penance. He underwent many agonizing trials
and set-backs, but he perservered. At last he obtained the boon
that Ganga would flow on earth. However, the earth could not
stand the force of her flow, so he sought the help of Lord Shiva
to control the river's flow. Shiva arrested major portion of the
river in his matted locks and let only a small portion flow to
the earth, thereby making it possible for the earth to bear the
burden. Ganga washed away the sins, and helped the ancestors of
Bhagirath to ascend to heaven. Since she was brought to earth by
the efforts of Bhagirath, she is also called Bhagirathi.

King Kakutstha - son of Great King Sagar.

King Raghu - Due to his extreme kindness and supreme valor,
the Sun Dynasty is also known as Raghu Dynasty (Raghuvṃśa).

King Pravriddha - Once, he angered his perceptor Vasishta,
who cursed him. Pravriddha wanted to curse him back, and took
water from his vessel for that purpose. However, his queen
Madayanti restrained him. The magical water fell on his feet,
that became blemished as a result. From that day, he was known
as Kalmashapada ('one of blemished feet'). Later, he got into an
argument with Shakti regarding right-of-way in a forest lane.
Vishwamitra, who was the rival of Vasishta, seized this
opportunity and caused the spirit of a flesh-eating demon to
enter the body of the King. Thus possessed, the King devoured
Shakti alive. He also killed the other ninety-nine sons of
Vasishta in a similar fashion. Later, he was freed from the
curse, but could not father a child due to the curse uttered by
a Brahmana woman. So, Vasishta went unto his queen Madayanti and
begat Shankana.

King Shankana

King Sudarshana

King Agnivarna

King Shigragha

King Maru

King Prashushruka

King Ambarisha

King Nahusa

King Yayati

King Nabhaga

King Aja - father of King Dashratha.

King Dashratha - father of Lord Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana and
Shatrughna. He is very well known for his encounter with the
Asuras in the Deva-Asura Sangram (God-Demigod Fight) in which he
helped Lord Indra.

"Vessantara Jātaka (No. 547).—Vessantara (the Bodhisatta)
was the son of Sanjaya, king of Sivi, and queen Phusatī, and was so
called because his mother started in labour as she passed through
the vessa-street in the city of Jetuttara, and he was born in a
house in the same street. He spoke as soon as he was born. On the
same day was also born a white elephant named Paccaya. At the age of
eight, Vessantara wished to make a great gift and the earth trembled.
He married Maddī at the age of sixteen, and their children were Jāli
and Kanhajinā.

At that time there was a great drought in Kalinga, and eight
brahmins came from there to Vessantara to beg his white elephant,
which had the power of making rain to fall. He granted their request,
and gave the elephant together with its priceless trappings. The
citizens of Jetuttara were greatly upset that their elephant should
have been given away, and demanded of Sanjaya that Vessantara should
be banished to Vankagiri. The will of the people prevailed, and
Vessantara was asked to take the road along which those travel who
have offended. He agreed to go, but before setting out, obtained the
king's leave to hold an almsgiving called the " Gift of the Seven
Hundreds " (Sattasataka), in which he gave away seven hundred of
each kind of thing. People came from all over Jambudīpa to accept
his gifts, and the almsgiving lasted for a whole day.

When Vessantara took leave of his parents and prepared for his
journey, Maddī insisted on accompanying him with her two children.
They were conveyed in a gorgeous carriage drawn by four horses, but,
outside the city, Vessantara met four brahmins who begged his horses.
Four devas then drew the chariot, but another brahmin soon appeared
and obtained the chariot. Thenceforward they travelled on foot,
through Suvannagiritāla, across the river Kantimārā, to beyond Mount
Aranjaragiri and Dunnivittha, to his uncle's city, in the kingdom of
Ceta. The devas shortened the way for them, and the trees lowered
their fruit that they might eat. Sixty thousand khattiyas came out
to welcome Vessantara and offered him their kingdom, which, however,
he refused. He would not even enter the city, but remained outside
the gates, and, when he left early the next morning, the people of
Ceta, led by Cetaputta, went with him for fifteen leagues, till they
came to the entrance to the forest. Vessantara and his family then
proceeded to Gandhamadana, northwards, by the foot of Mount Vipula
to the river Ketumatī, where a forester entertained them and gave
them to eat. Thence they crossed the river to beyond Nālika, along
the bank of Lake Mucalinda, to its north-eastern corner, then along
a narrow footpath into the dense forest, to Vankagiri. There
Vissakamma had already built two hermitages, by order of Sakka, one
for Vessantara and one for Maddī and the children, and there they
took up their residence. By Vessantara's power, the wild animals to
a distance of three leagues became gentle. Maddī rose daily at dawn,
and, having fetched water to wash, went into the forest for yams and
fruit. In the evening she returned, washed the children, and the
family sat down to eat. Thus passed four months.

Then from Dunnivittha there came to the hermitage an old brahmin,
called Jūjaka, who had been sent by his young wife, Amittatāpanā, to
find slaves for her, because when she went to the well for water the
other women had laughed at her, calling her " old man's darling."
She told Jūjaka that he could easily get Vessantara's children as
slaves, and so he came to Vankagiri. Asking the way of various
people, including the hermit Accuta, Jūjaka arrived at Vankagiri
late in the evening and spent the night on the hilltop. That night
Maddī had a dream, and, being terrified, she sought Vessantara. He
knew what the dream presaged, but consoled her and sent her away the
next day in search of food. During her absence, Jūjaka came and made
his request. He would not await the return of Maddī, and Vessantara
willingly gave him the two children. But they ran away and hid in a
pond till told by their father to go with Jūjaka. When Vessantara
poured water on Jūjaka's hand as a symbol of his gift, the earth
trembled with joy. Once more the children escaped and ran back to
their father, but he strengthened his resolve with tears in his eyes.
Jūjaka led the children away, beating them along the road till their
blood flowed.

It was late in the evening when Maddī returned because devas,
assuming the form of beasts of prey, delayed her coming, lest she
should stand in the way of Vessantara's gift. In answer to her
questions, Vessantara spoke no word, and she spent the night
searching for the children. In the morning she returned to the
hermitage and fell down fainting. Vessantara restored her to
consciousness and told her of what had happened, explaining why he
had not told her earlier. When she had heard his story she expressed
her joy, affirming that he had made a noble gift for the sake of
omniscience.

And then, lest some vile creature should come and ask for Maddī,
Sakka, assuming the form of a brahmin, appeared and asked for her.
Vessantara looked at Maddī, and she expressed her consent. So he
gave Maddī to the brahmin, and the earth trembled. Sakka revealed
his identity, gave Maddī back to Vessantara, and allowed him eight
boons. Vessantara asked that

he be recalled to his father's city,

he should condemn no man to death,

he should be a helpmate to all alike,

he should not be guilty of adultery,

his son should have long life,

he should have celestial food,

his means of giving should never fail,

after death he should be reborn in heaven.

In the meantime, Jūjaka had travelled sixty leagues with the
children, whom the devas cared for and protected. Guided by the
devas, they arrived in fifteen days at Jetuttara, though Jūjaka had
intended to go to Kalinga. Sanjaya bought the children from Jūjaka,
paying a high price, including the gift of a seven-storeyed palace.
But Jūjaka died of over-eating, and as no relation of his could be
traced, his possessions came back to the king. Sanjaya ordered his
army to be prepared and a road to be built from Jetuttara to
Vankagiri, eight usabhas wide. Seven days later, led by Jāli,
Sanjaya and Phusatī started for Vankagiri.

In the army was the white elephant, who had been returned because
the people of Kalinga could not maintain him. There was great
rejoicing at the reunion of the family, and the six royal personages
fell in a swoon till they were revived by rain sent by Sakka, the
rain only wetting those who so wished it. Vessantara was crowned
king of Sivi, with Maddī as his consort. After a month's
merry-making in the forest, they returned to Jetuttara. On the day
Vessantara entered the city he set free every captive, including
even cats. In the evening, as he lay wondering how he would be able
to satisfy his suitors the next day, Sakka's throne was heated, and
he sent down a shower of the seven kinds of precious things, till
the palace grounds were filled waist-high. Vessantara was thus able
to practise his generosity to the end of his days. After death he
was born in Tusita.

The story was related on the occasion of the Buddha's first visit to
Kapilavatthu. The Buddha's kinsmen escorted him to the Nigrodhārāma,
but sat round him without doing any obeisance, because of their
great pride. The Buddha then performed the Twin Miracle, and the
Sākyans, led by Suddhodana, worshipped him. There was then a shower
of rain, refreshing all and falling only on those who so wished.
When the people expressed their wonder, the Buddha related this
story, showing that in the past, too, rain had fallen on his
kinsfolk to revive them.

Devadatta is identified with Jūjaka, Cincā with Amittatāpanā, Channa
with Cetaputta, Sāriputta with Accuta, Anuruddha with Sakka, Sanjaya
with Suddhodana, Mahāmāyā with Phusatī, Rāhulamātā with Maddī,
Rāhula with Jalī, and Uppalavannā with Kanhajinā.

The story also occurs in the Cariyāpitaka, and is often referred to
as that of a birth in which the Bodhisatta's dāna-pāramitā reached
its culmination. The earth shook seven times when Vessantara made
his gifts, and this forms the subject of a dilemma in the
Milindapanha.

The story of the Jātaka was sculptured in the Relic Chamber of the
Mahā Thūpa.

The story of Vessantara is the first of the Jātakas to disappear
from the world."

"Sākya, Sakka, Sākiya. — A tribe in North India, to which
the Buddha belonged. Their capital was Kapilavatthu. Mention is also
made of other Sākyan settlements —e.g., Cātumā, Khomadussa, Sāmagāma,
Devadaha, Silāvatī, Nagaraka, Medatalumpa, Sakkhara and Ulumpa (q.v.).

Within the Sakyan tribe there were probably several clans, gotta.
The Buddha himself belonged to the Gotamagotta. It has been
suggested that this was a brahmin clan, claiming descent from the
ancient isi Gotama. The evidence for this suggestion is, however,
very meagre. Nowhere do we find the Sākyans calling themselves
brahmins. On the other hand, we find various clans claiming'a share
of the Buddha's relics on the ground that they, like the Buddha,
were khattiyas.

It is stated that the Sākyans were a haughty people. When the
Buddha first visited them, after his Enlightenment, they refused to
honour him on account of his youth. The Buddha then performed a
miracle and preached the Vessantara Jataka, and their pride was
subdued. They were evidently fond of sports and mention is made of a
special school of archery conducted by a Sākyan family, called
Vedhañña. When the prince Siddhattha Gotama (later the
Buddha).wished to marry, no Sākyan would give him his daughter until
he had showed his proficiency in sport.

The Sākyans evidently had no king. Theirs was a republican form of
government, probably with a leader, elected from time to time. The
administration and judicial affairs of the gotta were discussed in
their Santhāgāra, or Mote-Hall, at Kapilavatthu. Ambattha (q.v.)
once visited it on business; so did the envoys of Pasenadi, when he
wished to marry a Sākyan maiden (see below). A new Mote-Hall was
built at Kapilavatthu while the Buddha was staying at the
Nigrodhārāma, and he was asked to inaugurate it. This he did by a
series of ethical discourses lasting through the night, delivered by
himself, Ânanda, and Moggallāna.

The .Sakyans were very jealous of the purity of their race; they
belonged to the Âdiccagotta, and claimed descent from Okkāka (q.v.).
Their ancestors were the nine children of Okkāka, whom he banished
in order to give the kingdom to Jantukumāra, his son by another
queen. These nine children went towards Himavā, and, having founded
Kapilavatthu (q.v. for details), lived there. To the eldest sister
they gave the rank of mother, and the others married among
themselves. The eldest sister, Piyā, later married Rāma, king of
Benares, and their descendants became known as the Koliyans (see s.v.
Koliyā for details). When Okkāka heard of this, he praised their
action.

From the very first there seems to have been intermarriage between
the Sākyans and the Koliyans; but there was evidently a good deal of
endogamy among the Sākyans, which earned for them the rebuke of the
Koliyans in the quarrel between them — "like dogs, jackals, and
suchlike beasts, cohabiting with their own sisters."

A quarrel, which broke out in the Buddha's lifetime, between the
Sākyans and the Koliyans is several times referred to in the books.
The longest account is found in the introductory story of the Kunāla
Jātaka. The cause of the dispute was the use of the water of the
River Rohinī (q.v.), which flowed between the two kingdoms. The
quarrel waxed fierce, and a bloody battle was imminent, when the
Buddha, arriving in the air between the two hosts, asked them, "
Which is of more priceless value, water or khattiya chiefs ?" He
thus convinced them of their folly and made peace between them. On
this occasion he preached five Jātaka stories—the Phandana, Daddabha,
Latukilka, Rukkhadhamma and Vattaka (Sammodamāna) — and the
Attadanda Sutta. To show their gratitude the Sākyans and Koliyans
gave each two hundred and fifty young men from their respective
families to join the Order of the Buddha. Earlier, during the
Buddha's first visit to Kapilavatthu, when he had humbled the pride
of his kinsmen by a display of miracles, each Sākyan family had
given one representative to enter the Order and to help their famous
kinsman. The wives of these, and of other Sākyans who had joined the
Order, were the first to become nuns under Pajāpatī Gotamī {q.v.)
when the Buddha gave permission for women to enter the Order. Among
the most eminent of the Sākyan young men, who now joined, were
Anuruddha, Ânanda, Bhaddiya, Kimbila, Bhagu and Devadatta. Their
barber, Upāli, entered the Order at the same time; they arranged
that he should be ordained first, so that he might be higher than
they in seniority and thus receive their obeisance, and thereby
humble their pride.

The Buddha states, in the Aggañña
Sutta, that the Sakyans were vassals of King Pasenadi of Kosala. Yet,
when Pasenadi wished to establish connection with the Buddha's
family by marrying one of the daughters of a Sākyan chief, the
Sakyans decided in their Mote-Hall that it would be beneath their
dignity to marry one of their daughters to the King of Kosala. But
as they dared not refuse Pasenadi's request, the Sākyan chieftain,
Mahānaāa, solved the difficulty by giving him Vāsabhakhattiyā (q.v.),
who was his daughter by a slave-girl, Nāgamundā. By her Pasenadi had
a son, Vidūdabha. When Pasenadi discovered the trick, he deprived
his wife and her son of all their honours, but restored them on the
intervention of the Buddha. Later, when Vidūdabha, who had vowed
vengeance on the Sākyans for the insult offered to his father,
became king, he marched into Kapilavatthu and there massacred the
Sākyans, including women and children. The Buddha felt himself
powerless to save them from their fate because they had committed
sin in a previous life by throwing poison into a river. Only a few
escaped, and these came to be called the Nalasākiyā and the
Tinasākiyā. Among the Sākyans who thus escaped was Pandu, son of
Amitodana. He crossed the Ganges, and, on the other side of the
river, founded a city. His daughter was Bhaddakaccānā (q.v.), who
later married Panduvāsudeva, king of Ceylon. Thus the kings of
Ceylon were connected by birth to the Sākyans."

"Māyā, Mahamāyā. — The mother of the Buddha. Her father
was the Sakyan Anjana of Devadaha, son of Devadahasakka, and her
mother Yasodharā, daughter of Jayasena. Dandapāni and Suppabuddha
were her brothers, and Mahāpajāpati her sister. Both the sisters
were married to Suddhodana in their youth, but it was not till Māyā
was between forty and fifty that the Buddha was born. She had all
the qualities necessary for one who was to bear the exalted rank of
being the mother of the Buddha: she was not too passionate, she did
not take intoxicants, she had practised the pārami for one hundred
thousand kappas, and had not, since her birth, violated the five
sīlā. On the day of her conception she kept her fast, and in her
sleep that night she had the following dream: the four Mahārāja-gods
took her in her bed to Himavā and placed her under a sāla-tree on
Manosilatāla. Then their wives came and bathed her in the Anotatta
Lake and clad her in divine robes. They then led her into a golden
palace and laid her on a divine couch; there the Bodhisatta, in the
form of a white elephant, holding a white lotus in his gleaming
trunk, entered into her right side. This was on the day of the
Uttarasālhanakkhatta, after a festival lasting seven days, in which
she had already taken part.

From the day of her conception she was guarded by the Four Regent
Gods; she felt no desire for men, and the child in her womb could be
seen from outside. At the end of the tenth month she wished to
return to her people in Devadaha, but, on her way thither, she
stopped at the sāla-giove in Lumbinī and there her child was born as
she stood holding on to the branch of a sāla-tree. Seven days later
Māyā died and was reborn as a male in the Tusita-world, under the
name of Māyādevaputta. The Buddha visited Tāvatimsa immediately
after the performance of the Twin-Miracle at the foot of the
Gandamba-tree, on the full-moon day of Âsālha, and there, during the
three months of the rainy season, the Buddha stayed, preaching the
Abhidhamma Pitaka to his mother (who came there to listen to him),
seated on Sakka's Pandukambalasīlāsana, at the foot of the
Pāricchattaka-tree. (It is said that, during this time, at certain
intervals, the Buddha would return to earth, leaving a seated image
of himself in Tāvatimsa to continue the preaching while he attended
to his bodily needs, begging alms in Uttarakuru and eating his food
on the banks of Anotatta, where Sāriputta waited on him and learnt
of what he had been preaching to the devas.)

The Commentaries state the view, held by some, that had Māyā been
alive the Buddha would not have shown such reluctance to bestow
ordination on women. This view, says Dhammapāla, is erroneous. It
would have made no difference, for it is the dhammatā of all Buddhas
that women shall be ordained, but subject to certain important re
strictions. The mothers of all Buddhas die very soon after the birth
of their son, because no other child is fit to be conceived in the
same womb as a Buddha.

Māyā, is mentioned in several Jātakas as the mother of the
Bodhisatta — e.g., in the Alīnacitta, the Katthahāri, the Kurudhamma,
the Kosambī, the Khandahāla, the Dasaratha, the Bandhanāgāra, the
Mahāummagga, the Mātuposaka, the Vessantara, the Susīma, the
Somanassa and the Hatthipāla. According to some contexts, after her
birth as Phusatī in the Vessantara Jataka, Māyā, became one of the
daughters of King Kiki (q.v.).

Māyā's resolve to be the mother of a Buddha was formed ninety-one
kappas ago in the time of Vipassī Buddha. She was then the elder
daughter of King Bandhumā. One of the king's vassals sent him a
piece of priceless sandalwood and a golden wreath, worth one hundred
thousand. The sandalwood the king gave to his elder daughter and the
wreath to the younger. The elder powdered the sandalwood and took it
in a golden casket to the Buddha. Some of the powder she offered to
the Buddha to be rubbed on his body, and the rest she scattered in
his cell. It was the sight of the Buddha's golden body that inspired
her with the desire to be the mother of such a being. Her sister
later became Uracchadā (q.v.),"

"Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī — An eminent Therī. She was born at
Devadaha in the family of Suppabuddha as the younger sister of
Mahāmāyā. At the birth of each sister, interpreters of bodily marks
prophesied that their children would be cakkavattins. King
Suddhodana married both the sisters, and when Mahāmāyā died, seven
days after the birth of the Buddha, Pajāpatī looked after the Buddha
and nursed him. She was the mother of Nanda, but it is said that she
gave her own son to nurses and herself nursed the Buddha. The Buddha
was at Vesāli when Suddhodana died, and Pajāpatī decided to renounce
the world, and waited for an opportunity to ask the permission of
the Buddha. Her opportunity came when the Buddha visited
Kapilavatthu to settle the dispute between the Sākyans and the
Koliyans as to the right to take water from the river Rohinī. When
the dispute had been settled, the Buddha preached the Kalahavivāda
Sutta, and five hundred young Sākyan men joined the Order. Their
wives, led by Pajāpatī, went to the Buddha and asked leave to be
ordained as nuns. This leave the Buddha refused, and he went on to
Vesāli. But Pajāpatī and her companions, nothing daunted, had
barbers to cut off their hair, and donning yellow robes, followed
the Buddha to Vesali on foot. They arrived with wounded feet at the
Buddha's monastery and repeated their request. The Buddha again
refused, but Ânanda interceded on their behalf and their request was
granted, subject to eight strict conditions.

After her ordination, Pajāpatī came to the Buddha and worshipped him.
The Buddha preached to her and gave her a subject for meditation.
With this topic she developed insight and soon after won arahantship,
while her five hundred companions attained to the same after
listening to the Nandakovāda Sutta. Later, at an assembly of monks
and nuns in Jetavana, the Buddha declared Pajāpatī chief of those
who had experience. Not long after, while at Vesāli, she realized
that her life had come to an end. She was one hundred and twenty
years old; she took leave of the Buddha, performed various miracles,
and then died, her five hundred companions dying with her. It is
said that the marvels which attended her cremation rites were second
only to those of the Buddha.

It was in the time of Padumuttara Buddha that Pajāpatī made her
resolve to gain eminence. She then belonged to a clansman's family
in Hamsavatī, and, hearing the Buddha assign the foremost place in
experience to a certain nun, wished for similar recognition herself,
doing many good deeds to that end. After many births she was born
once more at Benares, forewoman among five hundred slave-girls. When
the rains drew near, five Pacceka Buddhas came from Nandamūlaka to
Isipatana seeking lodgings. Pajāpatī saw them after the Treasurer
had refused them any assistance, and, after consultation with her
fellow-slaves, they persuaded their several husbands to erect five
huts for the Pacceka Buddhas during the rainy season and they
provided them with all requisites. At the end of the rains they gave
three robes to each Pacceka Buddha. After that she was born in a
weaver's village near Benares, and again ministered, this time to
five hundred Pacceka Buddhas, sons of Padumavatī.

It is said that once Pajāpatī made a robe for the Buddha of
wonderful material and marvellously elaborate. But when it came to
be offered to the Buddha he refused it, and suggested it should be
given to the Order as a whole. Pajāpatī was greatly disappointed,
and Ânanda intervened. But the Buddha explained that his suggestion
was for the greater good of Pajapatī, and also as an example to
those who might wish to make similar gifts in the future. This was
the occasion for the preaching of the Dakkhināvibhanga Sutta. The
Buddha had a great love for Pajapatī, and when she lay ill, as there
were no monks to visit her and preach to her — that being against
the rule — the Buddha amended the rule and went himself to preach to
her.

Pajāpatī's name appears several times in the Jātakas. She was the
mother monkey in the Cūla-Nandiya Jātaka, Canda in the
Culla-Dhammapāla,´and Bhikkhudāyikā (or Bhikkhudāsikā) daughter of
Kiki, king of Benares.

Mahāpajāpatī was so called because, at her birth, augerers
prophesied that she would have a large following; Gotamī was her
gotta-name.

There is a story related of a nurse employed by Pajāpatī and born in
Devadaha. She renounced the world with Pajāpatī, but for twenty-five
years was harassed by thoughts of lust till, at last, she heard
Dhammadinnā preach. She then practised meditation and became an
arahant."

He had a brother, Dandapāni, and two sisters, Māyā and Pajāpatī. He
married Amitā and had two children, Bhaddakaccānā and Devadatta.
Thus he was father-in-law to the Buddha. It is said that he was
offended with the Buddha for deserting his daughter and for being
hostile to Devadatta. One day he took strong drink and blocked the
Buddha's path, refusing to move in spite of the repeated requests of
the monks. The Buddha thereupon turned back. Ânanda seeing the
Buddha smile and enquiring the reason for the smile, was told that,
at the end of seven days, Suppabuddha would be swallowed up by the
earth at the foot of his stairs. Suppabuddha overheard this, and had
all his belongings carried to the seventh storey of his house. He
removed the stairway, closed all doors, and set a strong guard. On
the seventh day a state charger belonging to Suppabuddha broke loose.
None could manage him except Suppabuddha, and he, desiring to seize
the animal, moved towards the door. The doors opened of their own
accord, the stairway returned to its place, and the strong guard
threw him down the stairs. When he landed at the bottom of the
stairway the earth opened and swallowed him up in Avīci. He was also
evidently called Mahāsuppabuddha."

"Suddhodana. — A Sākyan Rājā of Kapilavatthu and father
of Gotama Buddha. He was the son of Sīhahanu and Kaccānā. His
brothers were Dhotodana, Sakkodana, Sukkodana and Amitodana, and his
sisters were Amitā and Pamitā. Māyā was his chief consort, and,
after her death, her sister Pajāpatī was raised to her position.
When soothsayers predicted that his son Gotama had two destinies
awaiting him, either that of universal sovereignty or of Buddhahood,
he exerted his utmost power to provide the prince with all kinds of
luxuries in order to hold him fast to household life. It is said
that when Asita, who was his father's chaplain and his own teacher,
visited Suddhodana to see the newly born prince, and paid homage to
the infant by allowing his feet to rest on his head, Suddhodana was
filled with wonder and himself worshipped the child. And when, at
the ploughing ceremony, Suddhodana saw how the jambu-tree under
which the child had been placed kept its shadow immoveable in order
to protect him, and that the child was seated cross-legged in the
air, he again worshipped him.

Later, when, in spite of all his father's efforts, the prince had
left household life and was practising austerities, news was brought
to Suddhodana that his son had died owing to the severity of his
penances. But he refused to believe it, saying that his son would
never die without achieving his goal. When this was afterwards
related to the Buddha, he preached the Mahādhammapāla Jātaka (q.v.)
and showed that in the past, too, Suddhodana had refused to believe
that his son could have died even when he was shown the heap of his
bones.

When news reached Suddhodana that'his son had reached Enlightenment,
he sent a messenger to Veluvana in Rājagaha with ten thousand others
to invite the Buddha to visit Kapilavatthu. But the messenger and
his companions heard the Buddha preach, entered the Order, and
forgot their mission. Nine times this happened. On the tenth
occasion, Suddhodana sent Kāludāyī with permission for him to enter
the Order on the express condition that he gave the king's
invitation to the Buddha. Kāludāyī kept his promise and the Buddha
visited Kapilavatthu, staying in the Nigrodhārāma. There, in
reference to a shower of rain that fell, he preached the Vessantara
Jātaka (q.v.). The next day, when Suddhodana remonstrated with the
Buddha because he was seen begging in the streets of Kapilavatthu,
the Buddha told him that begging was the custom of all Buddhas, and
Suddhodana hearing this became a sotāpanna. He invited the Buddha to
his palace, where he entertained him, and at the end of the meal the
Buddha preached to the king, who became a sakadāgāmin. He became an
anāgāmin after hearing the Mahādhammapāla Jātaka, and when he was
about to die, the Buddha came from Vesāli to see him and preach to
him, and Suddhodana became an arahant and died as a lay arahant.

Nanda was Suddhodana's son by Mahā Pajāpatī, and he had also a
daughter called Sundarī Nanda. When the Buddha ordained both Rāhula
and Nanda, Suddhodana was greatly distressed lest other parents
should be similarly afflicted, and persuaded the Buddha to establish
a rule that none should be ordained without the permission of his
parents. Suddhodana was the Bodhisatta's father in numerous births,
but he is specially mentioned as such by name in only a few Jātakas—e.g.,
Katthahāri, Alīnacitta, Susīma, Bandhanāgāra, Kosambī,
Mahādhammapāla, Dasaratha, Hatthipāla, Mahāummagga and Vessantara."

"Rāhulamātā. — The name, generally given in the texts, of
Rāhula's
mother and Gotama's wife. She is also called Bhaddakāccā," and, in
later texts, Yasodharā, Bimbadāvī and, probably, Bimbāsundarī. The Northern texts" seem to favour the name of Yasodharā, but they
call her the daughter of Dandapāni. It is probable that the name of
Gotama's wife was Bimbā, and that Bhaddakaccā, Subhaddakā, Yosadharā
and the others, were descriptive epithets applied to her, which
later became
regarded as, additional names. It is also possible that in Gotama's
court there was also a Yasodharā, daughter of Dandapāni, and that
there was a later confusion of names. The Commentarial explanation, that she was called Bhaddakaccānā because her body was the colour of
burnished gold, is probably correct. To suggest that the name bears
any reference to the Kaccānagotta seems to be wrong, because the
Kaccāna was a brahmin gotta and the Sākyans were not brahmins.

Rāhulamātā was born on the same day as the Bodhisatta. She married
him (Gotama) at the age of sixteen, and was placed at the head of
forty thousand women, given to Gotama by the Sākyans, after he had
proved his manly prowess to their satisfaction. Gotama left the
household life on the day of the birth of his son Rāhula. It is
said that just before he left home he took a last look at his who
from the door of her room, not daring to go nearer, lest he should
awake her. When the Buddha paid his first visit to Kapilavatthu
after the Enlightenment, and on the second day of that visit, he
begged in the street for alms. This news spread, and Rāhulamātā
looked out of her window to see if it were true. She saw the Buddha,
and was so struck by the glory of his personality that she uttered
eight verses in its praise. These verses have been handed down under
the name of Narasīhagāthā (q.v.); on that day, after the Buddha had
finished his meal in the palace, which he took at the invitation of
Suddhodana, all the ladies of the court, with the exception of
Rāhulamātā, went to pay him obeisance. She refused to go, saying
that if she had any virtue in her the Buddha would come to her. The
Buddha went to her with his two chief Disciples and gave orders that
she should be allowed to greet him as she wished. She fell at his
feet, and clasping them with her hands, put her head on them.
Suddhodana related to the Buddha how, from the time he had left
home, Rāhulamātā had herself abandoned all luxury and had lived in
the same manner as she had heard that the Buddha lived — wearing
yellow robes, eating only once a day, etc. And the Buddha then
related the Candakinnara Jātaka (q.v.), to show how, in the past,
too, her loyalty had been supreme.

On the seventh day of the Buddha's visit, when he left the palace at
the end of his meal, Rāhulamātā sent Rāhula to him saying, " That is
your father, go and ask him for your inheritance." Rāhula followed
tlie Buddha, and, at the Buddha's request, was ordained by Sāriputta.

Later, when the Buddha allowed women to join the Order, Rāhulamātā
became a nun under Mahāpajāpati Gotamī.

Buddhaghosa identifies Rāhulamātā with Bhaddakaccānā who, in the
Ariguttara Nikaya, is mentioned as chief among nuns in the
possession of supernormal powers. She was one
of the four disciples of the Buddha who possessed such attainment,
the others being Sāriputta, Moggallāna and Bakkula. She expressed
her desire for this achievement in the time of Padumuttara Buddha.

In this account Bhaddakaccānā is mentioned as the daughter of the
Sākyan Suppabuddha and his wife Amitā. She joined the Order under
Pajāpatī Gotami in the company of Janapadakalyānī (Nandā), and in
the Order she was known as Bhaddakaccānā Then. Later, she developed
insight and became an arahant. She could, with one effort, recall
one asankheyya and one hundred thousand kappas.

In the Therī Apadāna an account is found of a Therī, Yasodharā by
name, who is evidently to be identified with Rāhulamātā, because she
speaks of herself (vvs. 10, 11) as the Buddha's pajāpatī before he
left the household (āgāra), and says that she was the chief of ninety thousand women.

In the time of Dīpankara Buddha, when the Bodhisatta was born as
Sumedha, she was a brahmin-maiden, Sumittā by name, and gave eight
handfuls of lotuses to Sumedha, which he, in turn, offered to the
Buddha. Dīpankara, in declaring that Sumedha would ultimately become
the Buddha, added that Sumittā would be his companion in several
lives. The Apadāna account mentions how, just before her death, at
the age of seventy-eight, she took leave of the Buddha and performed
various miracles. It also states that eighteen thousand arahants
nuns, companions of Yasodharā, also died on the same day.

The Abbhantara Jātaka mentions that Bimbādevī (who is called the
chief wife of Gotama and is therefore evidently identical with
Rāhulamātā) was once, after becoming a nun, ill from flatulence.
When Rāhula, as was his custom, came to visit her, he was told that
he could not see her, but that, when she had suffered from the same
trouble at home, she had been cured by mango-juice with sugar.
Rāhula reported
the matter to his preceptor, Sāriputta, who obtained the mango-juice
from Pasenadi. When Pasenadi discovered why the mango-juice had been
needed, he arranged that from that day it should bo regularly
supplied. The Jātaka relates how, in a past birth too, Sāriputta had
come to Rāhulamātā's rescue.

Numerous stories are found in the Jātaka Commentary in which
Rāhulamātā is identified with one or other of the characters — e.g.,
the queen consort in the Abbhantara, Sammillabhāsinī in the
Ananusociya, Samuddavijayā in the Âditta, Udayabhaddā in the Udaya,
the potter's wife (? Bhaggavī, q.v.) in the Kumbhakāra, the queen in
the Kummāsa, the queen consort in the Kurudhamma, Pabhāvatī in the
Kusa, Candā in the Khandahāla, the queen in the Gangamāla, the
female in the two Cakkavaka Jātakas, Candā in the Candakinnara,
Sumanā in the Campeyya, the woman ascetic in the Cullabodhi, Candā
in the Culla Sutasoma, the queen in the Jayaddisa, Sītā in the
Dasaratha, the queen in the Pānīya, the wife in the Bandhanāgāra,
Sujātā in the Manicora, Manoja's mother in the Manoja, Sīvalī in the
Mahājanaka, Subhaddā in the Mahsudassana, the mother-deer in the
Lakkhana, Visayha's wife in the Visayha, Maddī in the Vessantara,
Suphassā in the Supatta, the queen in the Susīma, and the smith's
wife in the Sūci."

"Devadatta. — Son of the Sākyan Suppabuddha (maternal
uncle of the Buddha) and his wife Amitā. He had a sister
Bhaddakaccānā, who married Prince Siddhattha. When the Buddha
visited Kapilavatthu after the Enlightenment and preached to the
Sākyans, Devadatta was converted together with his friends Ânanda,
Bhagu, Kimbila, Bhaddiya, Anuruddha, and their barber, Upāli, and he
sought the Buddha at Anupiyā and entered the Order. During the rainy
season that followed, Devadatta acquired the power of iddhi possible,
to those who are yet of the world. For some time he seems to have
enjoyed great honour in the Order, and in one passage he is
mentioned in a list of eleven of the chief Elders of all of whom the
Buddha speaks in praise. Devadatta was later suspected of evil
wishes. About eight years before the Buddha's death, Devadatta,
eager for gain and favour and jealous of the Buddha's fame,
attempted to win over Ajātasattu. He assumed the form of a child
having a girdle of snakes, and suddenly appeared on Ajātasattu's lap,
frightening him. He then resumed his own form, and Ajātasattu, much
impressed, paid him great honour and, it is said, visited him
morning and evening with five hundred chariots and sent him daily
five hundred dishes of food. This encouraged Devadatta in his
schemes, and he conceived the idea of taking he Buddha's place as
leader of the Sangha. As soon as this thought ccurred to him, his
iddhi-power disappeared.

The Koliyan Kakudha, follower of Moggallāna, reborn as a
manomayakayikadeva, divined Devadatta's plan and informed Moggallāna.
The latter repeated the matter to the Buddha, but the Buddha said it
was unnecessary to discuss it as Devadatta would ultimately betray
himself.

Sometime later, Devadatta went to the Buddha and suggested that the
leadership of the Order should be handed over to him in view of the
Buddha's approaching old age. The Buddha scorned the suggestion,
saying, " Not even to Sāriputta or Moggallāna would I hand over the
Order, and would I then to thee, vile one, to be vomited like
spittle ?" Devadatta showed great resentment and vowed vengeance.
Thereupon, at the Buddha's suggestion, a proclamation was issued to
the Sangha that in anything done by Devadatta in the name of the
Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, none but Devadatta was to be
recognised.

It was at this time that Devadatta incited Ajātasattu to kill his
father, Bimbisāra, while he himself prepared to kill the Buddha.

Ajātasattu agreed, and provided Devadatta with royal archers to
shoot the Buddha. These were placed on different paths, one on one
path, two on another, and so on up to sixteen, and the plan was so
laid that not one of them would survive to tell the tale. But when
the Buddha approached the first man, he was terrified by the
Buddha's majesty, and his body became stiff. The Buddha spoke kindly
to him, and the man, throwing away his weapons, confessed his
intended crime. The Buddha thereupon preached to him and, having
converted him, sent him back by a different path. The other groups
of archers, tired of waiting, gave up the vigil and went away one
after the other. The different groups were led to the Buddha by his
iddhi-power, and he preached to them and converted them. The first
man returned to Devadatta saying that he was unable to kill the
Buddha because of his great iddhi-power.

Devadatta then decided to kill the Buddha himself. One day, when the
Buddha was walking on the slopes of Gijjhakūta, he hurled down on h
im a great rock. Two peaks sprang up from the ground, thereby
arresting its rushing advance, but a splinter struck the Buddha's
foot, causing the blood to flow. Being in great pain, he was carried
to Maddakucchi, and from there to Jīvaka's Ambavana, where Jīvaka
attended him. After this event, the monks wished the Buddha to have
a guard, but this he refused, saying that it was impossible for
anyone to deprive a Tathāgata of his life.

Devadatta's next attempt on the Buddha's life was to persuade
elephant-keepers to let loose a fierce elephant, Nalāgiri (or
Dhanapāla), drunk with toddy, on to the road by which the Buddha
would pass. The news spread rapidly, and the Buddha was warned, but
refused to turn back. As the elephant advanced he pervaded it with
love, and thus completely subdued it.

This outrage made Devadatta very unpopular, and even Ajātasattu was
compelled by the force of public opinion to withdraw his patronage
from Devadatta, whose gain and honour decreased. Thereupon he
decided, with the help of several others, Kokālika, Katamoraka-tissa,
Khandadeviyāputta and Samuddadatta, to bring about a schism in the
Order. These five went accordingly to the Buddha and asked for the
imposition of five rules on all members of the Sangha:

that monks should dwell all their lives in the forest,

that they should accept no invitations to meals, but live
entirely on alms obtained by begging,

that they should wear only robes made of discarded rags and
accept no robes from the laity,

that they should dwell at the foot of a tree and not under a
roof,

that they should abstain completely from fish and flesh.

The Buddha's reply was that those who felt so inclined could
follow these rules — except that of sleeping under a tree during the
rainy season — but he refused to make the rules obligatory. This
refusal delighted Devadatta, who went about with his party,
declaring that the Buddha was prone to luxury and abundance. He was
believed by the foolish, and in spite of the Buddha's warning
against the dire sin of causing schism in the Order, Devadatta
informed Ânanda of his intention of holding an uposatha meeting
without the Buddha, and, having persuaded five hundred newly
ordained monks from Vesāli to join him, he went out to Gayāsīsa.
Among the followers of Devadatta were also some nuns, chief of whom
was Thullanandā, who never tired of singing his praises. The mother
of Kumārakassapa (q.v.), also, first entered the Order under
Devadatta, but when he denounced her, following the discovery of her
pregnancy, she sought refuge with the Buddha. Some of the Sākyans,
too, seem to have preferred Devadatta to the Buddha — e.g.,
Dandapāni. The Buddha sent Sāriputta and Moggallāna to Gayāsīsa to
bring back the deluded ones. Devadatta, believing that they had come
to join him, rejoiced, and, in spite of Kokālika's warning, welcomed
them. That night he preached very late to the monks, and, wishing
for rest, asked Sāriputta to address the assembly. Sāriputta and
Moggallāna preached to such effect that they persuaded the five
hundred monks to return with them. Kokālika kicked Devadatta on the
chest to awaken him and tell him the news. When Devadatta discovered
what had happened, hot blood came from his mouth, and for nine
months he lay grievously ill. As his end drew near, he wished to see
the Buddha, though the latter had declared that it would not be
possible in this life. Devadatta, however, started the journey on a
litter, but on reaching Jetavana, he stopped the litter on the banks
of the pond and stepped out to wash. The earth opened and he was
swallowed up in Avīci, where, after suffering for one hundred
thousand kappas, he would be reborn as a Pacceka Buddha called
Atthissara. It is said that at the moment of being swallowed by the
earth, Devadatta uttered a stanza in which he declared that he had
no refuge other than the Buddha. It is this last act of Devadatta's
which the Buddha had in view when he agreed to ordain Devadatta. The
Dhammapāda Commentary contains a graphic account of the tortures of
Devadatta in Avīci. In previous births, also, he had been swallowed
by the earth, as King Kalābu and as Mahāpatāpa.

When the people heard of Devadatta's death, they held a great
festival, as they had done of yore at the death of Pingala, who was
an incarnation of Devadatta.

The Jātaka Commentary contains numerous stories showing that
Devadatta's enmity towards the Buddha was not confined to this life.
It had existed during many kappas, and though sometimes he was
foiled in his attempts to harm the Bodhisatta, in many cases he
succeeded in working his will. The beginning of this enmity, which
increased with time, is described in the Serivānija Jātaka.

Devadatta's wickedness and his hatred of the Bodhisatta are
illustrated in various Jātakas besides those already mentioned —
e.g., the Kakkara, the Kapi, the Kukkura, the Kurunga, the
Kurunga-miga, the Khandahāla, the Godha, the Campeyya, the
Cūla-Nandiya, the Chaddanta, the Tacchasūkara, the Tayodhamma, the
Tittira, the Dummedha, the Dhammaddhaja, the Dhonasākha, the Pandara,
the Bhūridatta, the Manicora, the Mahāummagga, the Mahākapi, the
Mahā-Nāradakassapa, the Mahāpaduma, the Mahāsīlava, the Romaka, the
Latukika, the Vānara, the Vānarinda, the Vessantara, the Saccankira,
the Sattigumba, the Sūliya, the Sumsumāra, and the Suvannakakkata.
In the Dhamma Jātaka, Devadatta is spoken of as having been the very
incarnation of unrighteousness, Adhamma. In several stories his
craftiness is emphasised—e.g., as the jackal in the Sigāla Jāstaka,
as the drunken sot in the Sigāla (No. 2) and also in the Manoja. In
the Kālabāhu Jātaka he is represented as very envious, and his
falsehood and duplicity are emphasised in the Cetiya, the Kakkāra
and the Somanassa Jātakas. His ingratitude is illustrated in such
stories as those of the Anta, the Amba, the Asampadāna, the Upāhana,
the Guttila, the Javasakuna, the Dūbhiya-makkata, the Nigrodha, the
Mahākapi, the Ruru and the Sīlavanāga Jātakas, while others, such as
the Apannaka, the Ubhatobhattha, the Kandagalaka, the Kāsava, the
Giridanta, the Jambuka, the Jambukhādaka, the Parantapa, the
Lakkhana, the Vinlaka, the Virocana, the Vīraka, the Sabbadātha, the
Sammuddavānija, the Sammodamāna Jātakas, speak of his folly and
inefficiency.

It is stated that in spite of the great hatred shown by Devadatta
towards him, the Buddha did not harbour, on his part, one single
feeling of ill-will.

Only once is mention made of the text of a sermon by Devadatta.
Candikāputta reports this to Sāriputta, who makes it an occasion for
a talk to the monks."

"Rāhula Thera. — Only
son of Gotama Buddha. Ho was born on the day on which his father
left the household life. When the Buddha visited Kapilavatthu for
the first time after his Enlightenment and accepted Suddhodana's
invitation, Rāhula's mother (Rāhulamātā) sent the boy to the Buddha
to ask for his inheritance. The Buddha gave him no answer, and, at
the conclusion of the meal, left the palace. Rāhula followed him,
reiterating his request, until at last the Buddha asked Sāriputta to
ordain him. When Suddhodana heard of this he protested to the
Buddha, and asked as a boon that, in future, no child should be
ordained without the consent of his parents, and to this the Buddha
agreed.

It is said that immediately after Rāhula's ordination the Buddha
preached to him constantly many suttas for his guidance. Rāhula
himself was eager to receive instruction from the Buddha and his
teachers and would rise early in the morning and take a handful of
sand, saying: "May I have today as many words of counsel from my
teachers as there are here grains of sand !" The monks constantly
spoke of Rāhula's amenability, and one day the Buddha, aware of the
subject of their talk, went amongst them and related the
Tipallatthamiga Jātaka5 and the Tittira Jātaka to show them that in
past births, too, Rāhula had been known for his obedience. When
Rāhula was seven years old, the Buddha preached to him the
Ambalatthika-Rāhulovāda Sutta (q.v.) as a warning that he should
never lie, even in fun. Rāhula used to accompany the Buddha on his
begging rounds, and noticing that he harboured carnal thoughts
fascinated by his own physical beauty and that of his father, the
Buddha preached to him, at the age of eighteen, the Mahā Rāhulovāda
Sutta (q.v.). Two other suttas, also called Rāhulovāda, one included
in the Samyutta and the other in the Anguttara (see below), formed
the topics for Rāhula's meditation (vipāssanā). Later, the Buddha,
knowing that Rāhula's mind was ripe for final attainment, went with
him alone to Andhavana, and preached to him the Cūla-Rāhulovāda
Sutta. At the end of the discourse, Rāhula became an arahant,
together with one hundred thousand crores of listening devas.
Afterwards, in the assembly of monks, the Buddha declared Rāhula
foremost among those of his disciples who were anxious for training.

In the time of Padumuttara Buddha, both Rāhula and Ratthapāla were
rich householders of Hamsavatī, who, realizing the vanity of riches,
gave all away to the poor. One day they entertained two ascetics of
great power. The ascetic to whom Rāhula ministered was in the habit
of visiting the abode of the Nāga-king, Pathavindhara, and had been
impressed by its magnificence. Therefore, in returning thanks to
Rāhula for his hospitality, he wished that his host might resemble
Pathavindhara. Rāhula remembered this, and after death he was born
in the Nāga-world as Pathavindhara, his friend being born as Sakka.
He was, however, dissatisfied with his lot, and one day when, with
Virūpakkha, he was on a visit to Sakka, Sakka recognized him, and
finding out that he was dissatisfied, suggested to him a remedy.
Pathavindhara invited the Buddha to his abode. The Buddha, attended
by Sumana and one hundred thousand arahants, came and was
entertained by him. In the company of monks was Uparevata, the
Buddha's son, seated next to him, and Pathavindhara was so
fascinated by him that he could not take his eyes off him.
Discovering who he was, Pathavindhara expressed a wish that he, too,
might be born as the son of a future Buddha. Later, in the time of
Kassapa Buddha, Rāhula was born as Pathavindhara, the eldest son of
King Kiki, later becoming his viceroy. His seven sisters built seven
residences for the Buddha, and, at their suggestion, Pathavindhara
built five hundred residences for the monks.

Four verses uttered by Rāhula are included in the Theragāthā.

It is said that the news of Rāhula's birth was brought to the
Bodhisatta when he was enjoying himself in his pleasaunce on the
banks of the royal pond after being decked by Vissakamma. As soon as
the news was announced, he made up his mind to renounce the world
without delay, for he saw, in the birth of a son, a new bond
attaching him to household life ("Rāhulo jāto , bandhanam jātam "—the
word rahula meaning bond).

According to the Dīgha and Samyutta Commentaries, Rahula predeceased
the Buddha and even Sāriputta, and the place of his death is given
as Tāvatimsa. For twelve years he never lay on a bed.

In numerous Jātakas, Rāhula is mentioned as having been the
Bodhisatta's son — e.g., in the Uraga, Kapi (No. 250), Kumbhakāra,
Khandahāla, Culla-Sutasoma, Daddara, Bandhanāgāra, Makkata,
Makhadeva, Mahājanaka, Mahāsudassana, Vidhurapandita, Vessantara,
Sīhakotthuka and Sonaka. He was also Yaññadatta,
son of Mandavya (Sāriputta) and the young tortoise in the
Mahāukkusa. The Apadāna says that in many births Uppalavannā and
Rāhula were born of the same parents and had similar tendencies.

Rāhula was known to his friends as Rāhulabhadda (Rāhula, the Lucky).
He himself says that he deserved the title because he was twice
blest in being the son of the Buddha and an arahant himself. Mention
is often made in the books that, though Rāhula was his own son, the
Buddha showed as much love for Devadatta, Angulimāla and Dhanapāla
as he did for Rāhula.

Asoka built a thūpa in honour of Rāhula, to be specially worshipped
by novices."

"Bimbisāra. — King of Magadha and patron of the Buddha.
He ascended the throne at the age of fifteen and reigned in Rājagaha
for fifty-two years. The Buddha was five years older than Bimbisāra,
and it was not until fifteen years after his accession that
Bimbisāra heard the Buddha preach and was converted by him. It is
said that the two were friends in their youth owing to the
friendship which existed between their fathers. But according to the
Pabbajā Sutta the first meeting between the Buddha and Bimbisāra
took place in Rājagaha under the Pandavapabbata, only after the
Buddha's Renunciation. The king, seeing the young ascetic pass below
the palace windows, sent messengers after him. On learning that he
was resting after his meal, Bimbisāra followed him and offered him a
place in his court. This the Buddha refused, revealing his identity.
The Commentary adds that Bimbisāra wished him success in his quest
and asked him to visit first Rājagaha as soon as he had attained
Enlightenment. It was in fulfilment of this promise that the Buddha
visited Rājagaha immediately after his conversion of the Tebhātika
Jatilā. He stayed at the Supatittha-cetiya in Latthivanuyyāna,
whither Bimbisāra, accompanied by twelve nahutas of householders,
went to pay to him his respects. The Buddha preached to them, and
eleven nahutas, with Bimbisāra at their head, became sotāpannas. On
the following day the Buddha and his large retinue of monks accepted
the hospitality of Bimbisāra. Sakka, in the guise of a young man,
preceded them to the palace, singing songs of glory of the Buddha.
At the conclusion of the meal, Bimbisāra poured water from a golden
jar on the Buddha's hand and dedicated Veluvana for the use of him
and of his monks. From this moment up till the time of his death, a
period of thirty-seven years, Bimbisāra did all in his power to help
on the new religion and to further its growth. He set an example to
his subjects in the practice of the precepts by taking the uposatha
vows on six days of each month.

Bimbisāra's chief queen was Kosaladevī (q.v.), daughter of
Mahākosala and sister of Pasenadi. On the day of her marriage she
received, as part of her dowry, a village in Kāsi, for her
bath-money. Her son was Ajātasattu (q.v,). Bimbisāra had other wives
as well; Khemā, who, at first, would not even visit the Buddha till
enticed by Bimbisāra's descriptions of the beauties of Veluvana; and
the courtezan Padumavatī, who was brought from Ujjenī, with the help
of a yakkha, so that Rajagaha might not lack a Nagarasobhinī. Both
these later became nuns. Padumavatī's son was Abhaya. Bimbisāra had
another son by Ambapālī, known as Vimala Kondañña,
and two others, by different wives, known as Sīlava and Jayasena. A
daughter, Cundī, is also mentioned.

Bimbisāra's death, according to the Commentaries, was a sad one.
Soothsayers had predicted, before the birth of Ajātasattu, that he
would bring about the death of his father, for which reason his
mother had wished to bring about an abortion. But Bimbisāra would
not hear of this, and when the boy was born, treated him with the
greatest affection. When the prince came of age, Devadatta, by an
exhibition of his iddhi-power, won him over to his side and
persuaded him to encompass the death of his father, Bimbisāra's
patronage of the Buddha being the greatest obstacle in the path of
Devadatta. The plot was discovered, and Bimbisāra's ministers
advised him to kill Ajātasattu, Devadatta and their associates. But
Bimbisāra sent for Ajātasattu and, on hearing that he desired power,
abdicated in his favour. Devadatta chided Ajātasattu for a fool.
"You are like a man who puts a skin over a drum in which is a rat,"
and he urged on Ajātasattu the need for the destruction of Bimbisāra.

But no weapon could injure Bimbisāra; it was therefore decided that
he should be starved to death, and with this end in view he was
imprisoned in a hot-house with orders that none but the mother
of Ajātasattu should visit him. On her visits she took with her a
golden vessel filled with food which she concealed in her clothes.
When this was discovered she took food in her head-dress, and, later,
she was obliged to take what food she could conceal in her footgear.
But all these ways were discovered, and then the queen visited
Bimbisāra after having bathed in scented water and smeared her
person with catumadhura (the four kinds of sweets). The king licked
her person and that was his only sustenance. In the end the visits
of the queen were forbidden; but the king continued to live by
walking about his cell meditating. Ajātasattu, hearing of this, sent
barbers to cut open his feet, fill the wounds with salt and vinegar,
and burn them with coals. It is said that when the barbers appeared
Bimbisāra thought his son had relented and had sent them to shave
him and cut his hair. But on learning their real purpose, he showed
not the least resentment and let them do their work, much against
their will. (In a previous birth he had walked about in the
courtyard of a cetiya with shoes on, hence this punishment !) Soon
after, Bimbisāra died, and was reborn in the Cātummahārājika-world
as a yakkha named Janavasabbha, in the retinue of Vessavana. The
Janavasabha Sutta records an account of a visit paid by Janavasabha
to the Buddha some time after.

A son was born to Ajātasattu on the day of Bimbisāra's death. The
joy he experienced at the birth of his son made him realize
something of the affection his own father must have felt for him,
and he questioned his mother. She told him stories of his childhood,
and he repented, rather belatedly, of his folly and cruelty. Soon
after, his mother died of grief, and her death gave rise to the
protracted war between Ajātasattu and Pasenadi, as mentioned
elsewhere.

The books contain no mention of any special sermons preached by the
Buddha to Bimbisāra nor of any questions asked by him of the Buddha.
Perhaps, like Anathapindika, his equal in devotion to the Buddha, he
refrained from giving the Buddha extra trouble, or perhaps the
affairs of his kingdom, which was three hundred leagues in extent,
did not permit him enough leisure for frequent visits to the Buddha.
It is said that he once visited four monks — Godhika, Subāhu,
Valliya and Uttiya — and invited them to spend the rainy season at
Rājagaha. He built for them four huts, but forgot to have them
roofed, with the result that the gods withheld the rains until the
king remembered the omission.

Bimbisāra's affection for the Buddha was unbounded. When the
Licchavis sent Mahāli, who was a member of Bimbisāra's retinue, to
beg the Buddha to visit Vesāli, Bimbisāra did not himself try to
persuade the Buddha to do so, but when the Buddha agreed to go he
repaired the whole road from Rājagaha to the Ganges — a distance of
five leagues — for the Buddha to walk upon; he erected a
rest-house at the end of each league, and spread flowers of five
different colours knee-deep along the whole way. Two parasols were
provided for the Buddha and one for each monk. The king himself
accompanied the Buddha in order to look after him, offering him
flowers and perfume and all requisites throughout the journey, which
lasted five days. Arrived at the river, he fastened two boats
together decked with flowers and jewels and followed the Buddha's
boat into the water up to his neck. When the Buddha had gone, the
king set up an encampment on the river bank, awaiting his return; he
then escorted him back to Rājagaha with similar pomp and ceremony.

Great cordiality existed between Bimbisāra and Pasenadi. They were
connected by marriage, each having married a sister of the other.
Pasenadi once visited Bimbisāra in order to obtain from him a person
of unbounded wealth for his kingdom. Bimbisāra had five such— Jotiya,
Jatila, Mendaka, Punnaka and Kākavaliya ; but Pasenadi had none. The
request was granted, and Mendaka's son, Dhananjaya, was sent back to
Kosala with Pasenadi.

Bimbisāra also maintained friendly relations with other kings, such
as Pukkasāti, king of Takkasilā, Candappajjota, king of Ujjenī, to
whom he sent his own physician Jīvaka to tend in his illness—and
Rudrāyana of Roruka.

Among the ministers and personal retinue of Bimbisāra are mentioned
Sona-Kolvisa, the flower-gatherer Sumana who supplied the king with
eight measures of jasmine-flowers, the minister Koliya, the
treasurer Kumbhaghosaka and his physician Jīvaka. The last named was
discovered for him by the prince Abhaya when he was suffering from a
fistula. The king's garments were stained with blood and his queens
mocked him. Jīvaka cured the king with one single anointing; the
king offered him the ornaments of the five hundred women of the
palace, and when he refused to take these, he was appointed
physician to the king, the women of the seraglio and the fraternity
of monks under the Buddha.

When Dhammadinnā wished to leave the world, Bimbisāra gave her, at
her husband's request, a golden palanquin and allowed her to go
round the city in procession.

Bimbisāra is generally referred to as Seniya Bimbisāra. The
Commentaries explain Seniya as meaning possessed of a large
following " or as " belonging to the Seniyagotta," and Bimbisāra as
meaning "of a golden colour," bimbī meaning gold.

In the time of Phussa Buddha, when the Buddha's three step-brothers,
sons of King Jayasena, obtained their father's leave to entertain
the Buddha for three months, Bimbisāra, then head of a certain
district, looked after all the arrangements. His associates in this
task were born as petas, and he gave alms to the Buddha in their
name in order to relieve their sufferings.

During his lifetime, Bimbisāra was considered the happiest of men,
but the Buddha declared that he himself was far happier than the
king.

The kahāpana in use in Rājagaha during Bimbisāra's time was the
standard of money adopted by the Buddha in the formation of those
rules into which the matter of money entered.

Bimbisāra had a white banner and one of his epithets was
Pandaraketu. Nothing is said about his future destiny, but he is
represented in the Janavasabha Sutta as expressing the wish to
become a Sakadāgāmī, and this wish may have been fulfilled."

"Ajātasattu.—Son of Bimbisāra, King of Magadha, and
therefore half-brother to Abhayarājakumāra. He succeeded his father
to the throne. His mother was a daughter of Mahākosala, and he
married Vajirā, Pasenadi's daughter, by whom he had a son
Udāyibhadda.

Ajātasattu grew up to be a noble and handsome youth. Devadatta was,
at this time, looking for ways and means of taking revenge on the
Buddha, and seeing in the prince a very desirable weapon, he exerted
all his strength to win him to his side. Ajātasattu was greatly
impressed by Devadatta's powers of iddhi and became his devoted
follower. He built for him a monastery at Gayāsīsa and waited upon
him morning and evening carrying food for him, sometimes as much as
five hundred cartloads in five hundred cooking pans.

Devadatta incited him to seize the throne, killing his father if
necessary. When Bimbisāra learnt of the prince's intentions he
abdicated in his favour. But Devadatta was not satisfied till
Bimbisāra, who was one of the Buddha's foremost supporters, was
killed.

Ajātasattu helped Devadatta in several of the latter's attempts to
kill the Buddha. Later he was filled with remorse for these past
misdeeds as he confesses himself; but evidently, for very shame, he
refrained from visiting the Buddha till he was won over by the
persuasions of his physician Jīvaka Komārabhacca. And when in the
end he did go to the Buddha, it was in great fear and trembling; so
nervous was he that he imagined conspirators in the very silence
surrounding the Buddha where he dwelt in the monsatery, in Jīvaka's
Mango grove at Rājagaha. It was on the occasion of this visit that
the Samaññaphala Sutta was
preached. The king admits that he had been to various teachers
before, but had failed to find satisfaction in their teachings. It
is noteworthy that the Buddha greets the king cordially on his
arrival and makes no mention whatever of the king's impiety. Instead,
when Ajātasattu expresess his repentance at the end of the discourse,
the Buddha accepts his confession and lets him off almost too
lightly. But after the king had departed the Buddha tells the monks
how the king's misdeeds had wrought his undoing both in this world
and the next, for if he had not been guilty of them, the Eye of
Truth (Sotāpattimagga, says the Commentary) would have been opened
for him on the occasion of this sermon. Henceforth the king became a
loyal adherent of the Buddha's faith, though, as far as we know, he
never waited again either upon the Buddha or upon any member of the
Order for the discussion of ethical matters. He was so full of love
and respect for the Buddha that when he heard of Upaka Mandikāputta
having spoken rather impolitely to the Buddha, he at once flew into
a rage.

Sakka said of him that among the puthujjanas he was most possessed
of piety. When the Buddha died, in the eighth year of Ajātasattu's
reign, the latter's ministers decided not to tell him the news at
once, in case he should die of a broken heart. On the pretext of
warding off the evil effects of a dream, they placed him in a vat
filled with the four kinds of sweet (catumadhura) and broke the sad
news gently to him. He immediately fainted, and it was not till they
put him in two other vats and repeated the tidings that he realised
their implication. He forthwith gave himself up to great lamentation
and despair, "like a madman," calling to mind the Buddha's various
virtues and visiting various places associated in his mind with the
Buddha. Later he sent messengers to claim his share of the Buddha's
relics, and when he obtained them he prolonged the rites held in
their honour till the arahants had to seek Sakka's aid to make the
king take the relics away to Rājagaha, where he erected over them a
stone thūpa. Two months afterwards, when the first Council was held,
he gave the undertaking his royal patronage and assisted the monks
who took part in it with all his power.

Several incidents connected with Ajātasattu's reign are mentioned in
the books. Bimbisāra had married a sister of Pasenadi, and when he
was killed she died of grief. The revenue of a Kāsī village had been
given to her by her father, Mahākosala, as part of her dowry, but
after Bimbisāra's murder, Pasenadi refused to continue it. Thereupon
Ajātasattu declared war on his uncle. At first he was victorious in
three battles, but, later, he was defeated by Pasenadi, who followed
the military advice of an old monk, the Elder Dhanuggahatissa;
Ajātasattu was taken captive with his army. On giving an undertaking
not to resort to violence again, he was released, and to seal the
friendship, Pasenadi gave him his daughter Vajirā as wife, and the
revenue of the disputed village was gifted to her as bath-money.

Later, when through the treachery of Pasenadi's minister, Dīgha
Kārāyana, his son Vidūdabha usurped the throne, Pasenadi, finding
himself deserted, went towards Rājagaha to seek Ajātasutta's help,
but on the way he died of exposure and Ajātasattu gave him burial.

About a year before the Buddha's death, Ajātasattu sent his chief
minister and confidant, the brahmin Vassakāra, to the Buddha to
intimate to him his desire to make war on the Vajjians and to find
out what prediction the Buddha would make regarding his chances of
victory. The Buddha informed the brahmin that the Vajjians practised
the seven conditions of welfare which they had learnt from him, and
that they were therefore invincible. The Samyutta Nikāya mentions
the Buddha as saying that the time would come when the Vajjians
would relinquish their strenuous mode of living and that then would
come Ajātasattu's chance. This chance came about three years later,
for by the treachery of Vassakāra, he succeeded in sowing dissension
among the leading families of Vesāli. Having thus weakened them, he
swooped down upon the place with an overwhelming force and
completely destroyed it. Rumours are mentioned of King Candappajjota
making preparations for a war on Ajātasattu to avenge the death of
his friend Bimbisāra, but no mention is made of actual fighting.

Of the end of Ajātasattu's reign the books mention very little
except that he was killed by his son Udaya or Udāyībhadda, who had
been born on the day that Bimbisāra died as a result of his
tortures.

We are told that Ajātasattu had feared that his son might kill him
and had therefore secretly hoped that Udaya would become a monk.

Ajātasattu's reign lasted thirty-two years. It was he who built the
fortress of Pātaliputta (s,v.), which later became the capital of
Magadha.

We do not know what Ajātasattu's real name was. The title
Vedehiputta which always accompanies his name probably means "son of
the Videha lady." At the time of Buddhaghosa there seems to have
been much confusion about the meaning of this word. According to
Buddhaghosa Vedehi means "wise." There seems to have been another
explanation which Buddhaghosa rejects — that Ajātasattu was the son
of the Videha queen. Videhi was probably the maiden, family, or
tribal (not personal) name of his mother. According- to a Tibetan
authority her personal name was Vāsavī, and she was called Videhi
because she was from Videha. (See also s.v. Vedehikā.)

Two explanations are given of the epithet Ajātasattu. According to
Buddhaghosa he was so called because the soothsayers predicted his
enmity to his father even before his birth, and a story is told of
how his mother, at the time of his conception, had a longing to
drink blood from Bimbisāra's right hand. The longing was satisfied,
but when the queen heard the soothsayer's prediction, she tried, in
many ways, to bring about a miscarriage. In this she was prevented
by the king. Later both parents grew to be very fond of him. There
is a story of the prince, holding his father's finger, visiting
Jotika's marvellous palace and thinking that his father was a fool
for not taking Jotika's wealth. When he became king he acquired
Jotika's palace.

To show Bimbisāra's love for the babe, an incident is mentioned of
how once, when the prince was yelling with pain because of a boil on
his finger, the nurses took him to the king who was then holding
court. To soothe the child, the king put the offending finger in his
mouth, where the boil burst. Unable to spit the pus out the king
swallowed it. The other explanation is that also found in the
Upanisads, and this is probably the correct one. It says that the
word means " he against whom there has arisen no foe."

According to the Dīgha Commentary, Ajātasattu was born in the
Lohakumbhiya niraya after his death. He will suffer there for 60,000
years, and later will reach nibbāna as a Paceeka Buddha named
Viditavisesa (v.l. Vijitāvī). Ajātasattu's crime of parricide is
often given as an example of an upacchedaka-kamma which has the
power of destroying the effect of meritorious deeds. He is also
mentioned as the worst kind of parricide.

Ajātasattu seems to have been held in hatred by the Niganthas. The
reason is probably that given in the Dhammapāda Commentary, where it
is said that when Moggallāna had been killed by thieves, spies were
sent out by the king to discover the murderers. When arrested, the
murderers confessed that they had been incited by the Niganthas. The
king thereupon buried five hundred Niganthas waist-deep in pits dug
in the palace court and had their heads ploughed off."

"1. Setting aside the kings who reigned in the past kappa, to
whatever forms of existence they may have passed, I shall completely
enumerate the kings of the present kappa. 2. Their descent, their
name and tribe, their age and (the length of) their reign, all that
I will proclaim, listen to it according to the truth.

3. The first inaugurated king, a ruler of the earth, full of
brilliancy, prince Mahasammata by name, reigned over his kingdom. 4.
His son was called Roja by name; (then followed) the prince called
Vararoja, Kalyāna and Varakalyāna, Uposatha, the lord of the earth;
— 5. the seventh of them was Mandhātā who reigned over the four
Dīpas. (Then followed) Cara, king Upacara, and Cetiya, the lord of
the earth; — 6. Mucala, Mahāmucala, Mucalinda, and also Sāgara,
Sāgaradeva, and Bharata, the prince called Bhagīrasa, — 7. Ruci, and
he who was called Mahāruci, Patāpa, and also Mahāpatāpa, Panāda, and
Mahāpanāda, the king called Sudassana, — 8. he who was called
Mahāsudassana, two Nerus, and Accimā. These were twenty-eight kings
by number; their age extended to an Asamkheyya (of years). 9. In
Kusāvatī, in Rājagaha, in Mithilā, best of towns, these kings
reigned; their age extended to an Asamkheyya (of years).

10. Ten times ten is one hundred; ten times a hundred is one
thousand; ten times a thousand is ten thousand; ten times ten
thousand is a hundred thousand; — 11. ten times a hundred thousand
is one koti; (the following numerals are) pakoti, kotippakoti,
nahuta, and ninnahuta, abbuda, and nirabbuda, — 12. ababa, and also
atata, ahaha, and kumuda, sogandhika, uppala, pundarīka, paduma. 13.
All these numbers are numerable and calculable by the means of
calculation; the stage (of numbers) beyond these is called
asamkheyya (not calculable).

14. One hundred kings, sons of Accimā, governed their great kingdom
in the town called Pakula (?). 15. The last of these kings was the
prince called Arindama; his sons and grandsons, fifty-six princes,
governed their great kingdom in the town of Ayujjhanagara. 16. The
last of these kings was Duppasaha, the lord of the earth; his sons
and grandsons, sixty rulers of the earth, reigned over their great
kingdom in Bārānasī, best of towns. 17. The last of these kings was
the prince called Ajitajana; his sons and grandsons, eighty-four
thousand by number, reigned over their great kingdom in the town of
Kapilanagara. 18. The last of these kings was Brahmadatta, the lord
of the earth; his sons and grandsons, thirty-six princes, reigned
over their great kingdom in Hatthipura, best of towns. 19. The last
of these kings was Kambalavasabha; his sons and grandsons,
thirty-two princes, reigned there in the town of Ekacakkhu. 20. The
last of these kings was Purindada, honoured by the surname Deva; his
sons and grandsons, twenty-eight princes, reigned over their great
kingdom in Vajirā, best of towns. 21. The last of these kings was
the prince called Sādhina. His sons and grandsons, twenty-two royal
princes, reigned over their great kingdom in Madhurā, best of towns.
22. The last of these kings was valiant Dhammagutta; his sons and
grandsons, eighteen princes, reigned there in the town of
Aritthapura. 23. The last of these kings was the chief of men called
Sitthi; his sons and grandsons, seventeen princes, reigned there in
the town of Indapatta. 24. The last of these kings was Brahmadeva,
the lord of the earth; his sons and grandsons, fifteen princes,
reigned there in the town of Ekacakkhu. 25. The last of these kings
was Baladatta, the lord of the earth; his sons and grandsons,
fourteen royal princes, governed their great kingdom in the town of
Kosambī. 26. The last of them was the king known as Bhaddadeva; his
sons and grandsons, nine royal princes, reigned there in the town of
Kannagoccha. 27. The last of them was the king renowned by the name
of Naradeva; his sons and grandsons, seven royal princes, governed
their great kingdom in the town of Rojānanagara. 28. The last of
these kings was the prince called Mahinda; his sons and grandsons,
twelve royal princes, governed their great kingdom in the town of
Campānagara. 29. The last of these kings was Nāgadeva, the lord of
the earth; his sons and grandsons, twenty-five princes, governed
their great kingdom in the town of Mithilānagara. 30. The last of
these kings was valiant Buddhadatta; his sons and grandsons,
twenty-five princes, governed their great kingdom in Rājagaha, best
of towns. 31. The last of these kings was the prince called
Dīpamkara; his sons and grandsons, twelve royal princes, governed
their great kingdom in Takkasilā, best of towns. 32. The last of
these kings was the prince called Tālissara; his sons and grandsons,
twelve royal princes, reigned over their great kingdom in Kusinārā,
best of towns. 33. The last of these kings was the prince called
Purinda; his sons and grandsons, nine royal princes, reigned over
their great kingdom in the town of Malitthiya (Tāmalitti?). 34. The
last of these kings was Sāgaradeva, the lord of the earth; bis son
Makhādeva was a great, liberal giver. 35. His sons and grandsons,
eighty-four thousand by number, reigned over their great kingdom in
the town of Mithilānagara. 36. The last of these kings was Nemiya,
honoured by the surname Deva, a universal monarch, a lord of the
whole earth which the ocean surrounds. 37. Nemiya's son was
Kalārajanaka; his son was Samamkura; (then followed) king Asoka, an
inaugurated prince. 38. His sons and grandsons, eighty-four thousand
by number, reigned over their great kingdom in Bārānasī, best of
towns. 39. The last of these kings was the lord of the earth called
Vijaya; his son was high-born, brilliant Vijitasena; — 40. (then
followed) Dhammasena, Nāgasena, the (king) called Samatha, Disampati,
Renu, Kusa, Mahākusa, Navaratha, and also Dasaratha, —- 41. Rāma,
the (king) called Bilāratha, Cittadassī, Atthadassī, Sujāta, and
Okkāka, Okkāmukha, and Nipura, — 42. Candimā, and Candamukha, king
Sivi, Sanjaya, Vessantara, the ruler of men, Jālī, and Sīhavāhana,
prince Sīhassara, the wise preserver of royal succession. 43. His
sons and grandsons, eighty-two thousand kings, reigned in the town
called Kapila(vatthu). 44. The last of these kings was Jayasena, the
lord of the earth; his son was high-born, brilliant Sīhahanu. 45.
The sons of that (?) Sīhahanu were five brothers, Suddhodana, and
Dhota (Dhotodana), prince Sakkodana, — 46. king Sukkodana, and king
Amitodana; all these five kings had names containing the word odana.
47. He the son of Suddhodana, Siddhattha, the chief of the world,
begot Rāhulabhadda, and then left his home in order to strive for
Buddhaship.

48. The total number of these highly powerful ... kings is four
Nahutas, one hundred thousand, and three hundred more. 49. So many
lords of the earth are mentioned who originated from the family of
the Bodhisatta in this first (?) kappa, preservers of royal
succession, rulers of men 1). — 50. Perishable, alas! is
whatever exists, subject to origin and decay; it appears and
perishes; its extinction is bliss.

End of the great lineage of kings.

1) The last words, which I think belong to this place,
form, in the MSS., the second part of v. 58."

51. The king called Suddhodana reigned in the town called
Kapila(vatthu), he the royal son of Sīhahanu. 52. Amid the five
mountains, in Rājagaha, best of towns, reigned the prinoe who was
called king Bodhisa (Bhātiya). 53. Suddhodana and Bhātiya were
friends of each other. When (Bimbisāra) was eight years old, five
wishes arose (in his mind):

54. „May my royal father instruct me in the duties of
royalty;

may he the Buddha, the highest of men, arise in my kingdom;
—

55. may the Tathāgata show himself first to me (before going
to other kings);

may he preach to me the eternal Truth;

may I penetrate that most excellent Truth." 56.

These were the five wishes which arose in Bimbisāra's mind. When
he was fifteen years old, he received the royal coronation after his
father's death; — 57. he (Buddha) the chief of the world arose in
his beautiful kingdom; the Tathāgata showed himself to him first;
when he preached his eternal Truth, the lord of the earth
apprehended it. 58. The great hero then was full thirty-five years
old; Bimbisāra, the lord of the earth, was thirty years old. Gotama
was five years older than Bimbisāra. 59. Fifty-two years this prince
reigned; thirty-seven years he reigned after having formed that
connection with the Buddha. 60. Prince Ajātasattu reigned thirty-two
years. Eight years after his coronation the Sambuddha reached
Parinibbāna. 61. After the Parinibbāna of the Sambuddha, the highest
One in the world, the chief of men, that prince reigned (still)
twenty-four years."

II.. 1-6.—Kings from Mahāsammata to Accimā.
II., 7—11.—Dynasties from Accimā to Okkāka, stating only the number
of kings in each dynasty, except in the case of Makhādeva and
Kalārajanaka, who are mentioned by name.

EM

II., 1-6 Kings from Mahāsammata to Acchimā
(sic).
II., 7-66.—List of dynasties from Acchimā to Okkāka. The name of the
last king of each dynasty, together with the capital of his
descendants is also given.

The details given
in EM. agree entirely with those of Dp v. III. 1-9, 14-41, with a
few differences in the names. The MT. account (123.11 f)
seems to be only a prose version of the same passage and was derived,
according to the author of MT. (120.11), from the Ak. M.T. prefaces
it with the story of Diparikara and his meeting with Sumedha,
reference being made (120.22) to the Sumedhakathā of the Jātaka. It
calls Mahāsammata an incarnation of the Bodhisatta and describes how
he came to be elected king (121.27 f). E.M. makes no mention of
these things, nor does it take account of the differences between
the Ak. and the Uttaravihāra-Atthakathā (UVAk.) to which MT. draws
attention (e.g. 125.7)

M

II., 12-24.—From Okkākas son, Okkāmukha, to
Jayasena, who were the founders of the Sakyan dynasty. From
Jayasena's son, Sīhahanu, to Suddhodana and the family of the Buddha
up to Rāhula.

EM

II., 66 cd-78.—Same as M.

MT.
(131.5-133.19) gives a long account of Okkāka, the origin of the
Sākyas and the foundation of Kapilavatthu. EM. makes no mention of
these things, nor does it refer to Bhagusakka and his 82,000
descendants who, according to UVAk., says MT. (134.14 f), ruled
between Sīhassara and Jayasena.

M

II., 25-32.—Bimbisāra and Ajātasattu and their
connection with the Buddha.

EM

II., 79-86.—Same as in M.

In this account
MT. (137.11) adds the name of Bimbisāra's father, Bhāti; EM does
not mention him.